042 Going Alcohol Free with Danny Clarke

In this week's episode I talk with Danny Clarke. Danny joins us today to talk about going alcohol free and the benefits that it has. With this being the first episode in January it seems the perfect time to think about this with dry January being an option.

Have you considered going alcohol free?


About Danny Clarke:
Danny Clarke is the founder of Easy Peasy Business. A serial entrepreneur, he has helped more than 130,000 people to launch, grow or scale their digital business.

He is now on a mission to help every household in the UK to start their own business.

www.easypeasybusiness.com

About Sarah:
Sarah Bolitho helps fitness and health professionals develop their careers and grow their businesses by providing specialist training in teaching, assessing, and internal quality assurance, together with qualifications in exercise referral and disability.   

With over 30 years in the health-related fitness and physical activity fields, Sarah has a wealth of experience and knowledge.  She has worked in most roles in the industry from group exercise to personal training but specialised in working with specialist populations.  For over 25 years Sarah has trained fitness and health professionals to work with clients with long-term conditions, mental health issues, disabilities, older adults and pre/post-natal women.  She has a post-graduate diploma in exercise and health behaviour and extensive training in supporting behaviour change.  She has worked with awarding organisations to develop qualifications and training and with accreditation bodies to endorse high-quality non-regulated training. 

In her spare time, you will usually find Sarah walking in the mountains, by the sea or anywhere in nature.

For more about the training and support Sarah offers, visit www.sarahbolitho.com or contact her at admin@sarahbolitho.com.

Follow her on social media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabnewlous_active_lives
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitnesscareer mentor
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbolitho

Transcript

Sarah (00:01.558)

Hello and welcome to this episode of Creating Active Lives with me, Sarah Belita, and my guest, Danny Clark. This is a timely episode because it's going out in January, although it will be appropriate any time of year. And we are talking about going alcohol free, which is something a lot of people do for dry January anyway. But also a lot of people kind of decide to cut down or give up after maybe excesses over the festive season. 

Danny is an entrepreneur, a businessman, and he runs a company called Easy Peasy Business. So Danny, tell us a little bit about Easy Peasy Business first.

Danny Clarke (00:40.458)

So we launched the company in 2020 and it was at the back of about an eight, nine-year career in the online space still where we were coaching, training, and teaching entrepreneurs, how to build an online business. We then moved into the agency, the SAS, the software model. And yeah, it's, it's a company which we're on a mission to be able to help every household in the UK to be able to launch, to grow, to scale their own business. We are big, big believers in being able to help everyday folk just to be able to make a difference in their lives. So to have their own level of independence and to really just breathe that creativity, which I think we all have as individuals. I think there's a little bit of an entrepreneur in every single person. So that's our passion project. But on a day-to-day basis, we're very simply helping people just to run their business in a simpler, easier way, which often means, what's the saying?

Simplicity requires great complexity, which I think is true, and I think it's probably true with drinking alcohol as well for some people.

Sarah (01:47.79)

Yeah. But it's weird, isn't it? Because quite often in business, it can get really overwhelming. And I think, you know, if you work for a big company, then you've got systems and you've got departments and you've got very defined roles but when you're in it on your own, whether there's one or two or three of you, much smaller businesses, there's so much that you have to do and it's really confusing and I know that you kind of provide a service which means look here it is, it's in one place, so you don't have to go here and there and that's really important because you know particularly when you work on your own time is precious very much.

Danny Clarke (02:27.146)

Yeah, and the funny thing is, when we first came into the online space, you know, over a decade ago, we had the first year, I mean look, right place, right time, of course, we worked hard to do those things, but we had just a Facebook group. We didn't have a logo, we didn't have a website, we didn't have a sales page, we didn't have a funnel, we didn't have a brand, we had nothing. We had just a Facebook group with lots of enthusiasm and energy, and we made half a million pounds in our first 12 months of business. Now this was from someone who, you know, previously had done pretty well in business, but certainly not to that type of level. If I go to today, it's not that easy, but it should be easier if anything, to build a business because we're always, well, we should be, we should always be standing on the shoulders of those who went before us, right? Because someone's already done the hard work, so we don't have to, but we have this very weird thing in the online space where the majority of the people who are the educators and the teachers are people that had that success two, three years ago. So it's not a current trend. So there's always like a lack in what people should be learning and doing. There's always a case of, well, it was hard for me, kids. So it's going to be hard for you too, a weird PTSD thing that gets carried on and pushed onto the next person. You've got to work hard because I did. And also you've got this sense where people are trying to make it harder for other people to join because it's actually a fear mechanism to protect their own business, because if it's harder for you lot to do what I do, then actually it means it's safer and easier for me to keep where I'm at, which is the complete opposite of where it should be in all levels. So, our belief and our passion is just to help people, number one, realize how simple and easy it can be to start a business, and number two, how simple and easy it can be to achieve the results that they're looking to achieve. It's really easy to compare yourself against others sometimes, but you know, get in real diode into what you wanna do to help your family, your local community, your wider, your online, your digital community perhaps, and do so in a way which is fun, sustainable, and brings you happiness and joy.

Sarah (04:28.046)

And that's it, it's so important to think that collaboration, that sense of community, that sense of cooperation, working together, and you're right, quite often, it's kind of like, well, it was hard for me, so I'm not going to make it easy for you. Whereas actually, do you know what, it was hard for me, but because of that, I can show you how to make it easier for you. And I think it's something, I'm going to bring it into fitness now, because it's something that I think, with activity as well, sometimes it's, well, I had to go out and do all the runs, and I had to climb the mountains, I'm not going to share with you, but actually we want that collaboration. We want, oh actually look, I found a better way of doing it. I found a quicker way, an easier way, a better way of training. And this to me, that collaboration, that community is so important because when, you know, there's a saying, isn't there, high tide raises all boats. And when we lift each other, we all rise and that's what we want. So looking then at, coming back to activity, one of the things we're talking about here is going alcohol-free or predominantly alcohol-free. I'm predominantly alcohol free. It's very, very rare these days and actually getting rarer, really. But so are you. What kind of made you decide to say, right, do you know what? I'm going to cut back on the alcohol.

Danny Clarke (05:45.954)

Yeah, so it was 2017 for me, when I made the decision to stop drinking alcohol. A big part of that for me was at the time, my family and I, with the three kids, we were traveling around the world. And so this was really tied in with the growth of the business.

And it was growth in the business and we just hit limits in the business, these monthly income amounts that we couldn't push past. And you just hear all the time. Well, I was hearing all the time anyway, right. Which was new levels, new devils, your business will only grow as much as you. And so I thought, OK, well, now's the time for me to start doing some work on myself. And I was never a big drinker. I was definitely a binge drinker. I was definitely someone who would drink, you know, excessive on a weekend, definitely not every weekend. But if I went out, I went out and I would drink and I would party and I would like a good a time as possible. I put myself into everything that I did. But what I learned was the first couple of times I heard this was on the road, because I was speaking on stages and I was in Dallas and Vegas and these sort of places. And I was meeting other high-achieving individuals. And there were just some patterns of behaviour that I started to recognize - pretty much none of them drank, which to me was crazy coming from UK, a binge drinking kind of mindset. Every time it was an event, every time it was a conference was an excuse for a piss-up and a drink. So heading over to America and these guys aren't doing that. They're not drinking. They're talking about health. They talk about wellbeing. They're about to go and speak on stage. They're bounced on a little mini trampoline for 10 minutes before. So they talk about their endorphins. I was like, I've never even heard about this stuff. And at first I was like, Oh, it's just kind of wishy-washies, it's just like silly stuff and I was maybe a little bit against leaning into it but then I just kept seeing all of these successful people doing the same and I thought well maybe there's something there so I thought to myself well okay I'm not gonna drink and so that's what I did but I kept finding myself wanting to have a drink more it would be a social event I feel like hmm I really want to have a drink and it felt like a punishment to not have a drink. It'd be a barbecue, not have a drink. And I was like, why not have a drink? And I'm like, I don't really know apart from I've just seen the successful people not have a drink. And so I hadn't really created any type of connection to it. And so I fell back into a habit of just having a drink every now and then. It was when I was traveling around the world and working on myself, that I started to realize that for me, alcohol became a symptom of something. And so I would have a beer at the end of the week, I would have a beer, I felt stressed, I'd have a beer, I felt happy. And it wasn't that I actually needed a beer, it was just actually there was something happening in my life that created that connection of, oh, let's celebrate, let's commiserate, let's do something. And it was the accepted way to be able to do that. Now, for me, I was never really a happy drinker, you know, for me, it would be a drink with stress. And so really that's when the shift started to happen to me because I realized that actually I'm drinking because I'm overwhelmed. And my personality type is certainly someone who, I'm quite stoic. I'm not a big emotional shower. My wife, like she's all the emotions, how she shows them. I'm very different to that. Quite stoic, quite quiet. If I'm stressed, I'll go quiet for a couple of days. That's how, that's my management style, my, how I would get through these things.

So alcohol for me became a way to avoid having to go through those feelings of, well, why do I feel stressed? Why is this triggering me? Why am I upset? Why do I feel angry about these things? And that for me was where the real journey for, not just alcohol, I suppose, but for myself, and it became a byproduct of that of, well, what are the reasons why you think these things and feel these things and are triggered by these things and have insecurities around these things, those things and I look like all of us, I've still got loads to learn and figure out and you know, try my best. But that very, very quickly removed any type of necessity to have, right, alcohol. That's gonna be the thing that I'm gonna take at that stage. Which for me then, when it came to alcohol, It became very easy to give up and not to do, because there was a reason to not do it, because the reason I was taking the first place wasn't even there, it wasn't presenting itself anywhere near as much.

Sarah (10:28.618)

It's interesting, isn't it? Because, you know, basically what exactly what you're describing is a habit. It means a negative habit. We all have, we've got good habits, we've got neutral habits, we've got negative habits. And alcohol is, you know, especially in the UK, we're very much, I've had a bad day, I'll have a drink. I've had a good day, I'll have a drink. It's a habit. And we don't often stop to think.

Do I want to drink? Do I need a drink? Why am I choosing to drink? It's just like, oh, it's wine o'clock, it's six o'clock, it's the end of the week. It's, oh, I need to wind down. We don't often think, like you say, we don't think, why am I choosing this? And it's, like I say, it's a habit that we just get into so easily. Everything around, you know, becomes, oh, it's time for a drink, time for this, time for that. And it, it's, it's very hard sometimes to stop like you did and say, hang on a minute, why am I doing this? Why is this happening? Because quite often, like you say, it's associated with good times, it's associated with barbecues going out for a meal and stuff. So we don't think of it as a negative habit, but actually when it does become a habit, we've lost that kind of, hang on a minute, this isn't right. 

Danny Clarke (11:23.718)

Well, it's interesting that you use the word habit because one of the people that I got connected with over in America, he was a  former alcoholic, 30 years sober. And this guy was just like the most insanely inspirational, motivational, just incredible kind of guy. Still went to AA every single day. Alcohol was a big part of his life and his story and how he talked about it. So you kind of like, you hear this stuff a lot. And I was very taken by him, just like the kindness that he showed me at the time. As I was talking to him, because, you know, I was never convinced that I had an alcohol problem I would maybe binge drink once a month, once every two months. You know, I had the kids maybe once every three months and I would hardly drink, you know, in between. And so it never came into my mind that there was an alcohol problem, an alcohol problem for me was like someone who drinks alcohol every day, is having four or five, having a bottle of whiskey, having a bottle of vodka. That's an alcohol problem. I just, you know, get pissed and shit-faced once every three months as a way to like, you know, chill out or calm out or see the lads, you know, sort of thing. And it was Tom who said, you know, cause I use the word habit. I said, you know, it's just, it's just, you know, habit. The guy with the lads, he said, is it a habit? I was like, I think so, what else would it be? And he said, well, is that an addiction? And I was like, I don't think so. He goes, well, could you go without it? I was like, I don't know. And I felt very insecure in answering that question. I thought, Oh, God, I feel like I really do need these. But at the time it was well, it's okay to need those because it's okay to go out with my friends. It's okay to socialize. It's okay to have a good time. So there was a lot of justification that I would get it. And he wasn't trying in any way to make me feel bad about myself. He's trying to like open my mind to my thinking. And I was like, John, I don't think I could give it up.  I really need it. 

And then it was, why do you need it? And it wasn't about having a good time. It wasn't about friendship and that it was actually just a way for me to escape. And it was escapism for me. And it's like, well, why do you need to escape from your life? What is it about your life that makes you feel like you have to drink, take drugs, whatever to escape from that situation, even if it's just a night every three months? And that's when you know, it's a lot of that inner work comes up, you know, I had a lot of shame and insecurities and worries and, you know, just building on those, it wasn't that I was trying to escape my life because I loved my life. I had a happy marriage, had kids, you know, everything you could want. What I was trying to escape from was actually the feelings that I carried inside of me, you know, it wasn't what I built my life to look, you know.

Sarah (14:33.45)

Right.

Danny Clarke (14:36.27)

And so that again just became another reason and it wasn't to not drink alcohol, but it was to avoid using that as a way to ask the questions that I need to ask myself. And so I went fully alcohol-free sober from 2017 through to maybe last year, I started drinking a little bit, but it was a good four or five years, didn't touch a drop of alcohol.

And it only changed more recently because it got to a point where I thought to myself, I'd like to have a beer. And I was stopping myself. And then the same way I saw those questions before, well, why aren't you having a beer? And it wasn't actually because I was worried about all these other things. I was just doing it because that's just what I need to do. So, you know, I'll have a Bailey's at Christmas. You know, I might have a beer if the boxing's on, you know, I might watch a Tyson-Fiori fight or something like that, I might have a beer then. Never want to watch the football, but you know, so I might have 10 drinks over the course of a year total, you know, something like that. But that feels good and comfortable, and it takes all pressure off and I don't feel the need to have to be sober. Because it did feel like I was wearing that as a uniform to be able to say, I'm sober, because I'm not sure if we said this during the podcast, if it was a conversation beforehand, it's a bit of a trend. And it did start to feel that for me. It feels like I'm saying that to be able to go, I'm sober, rather than actually living a life that was the way that I wanted to live my life. Does that make sense?

Sarah (15:56.671)

Yeah, and that's it. I think this is one of the big things, isn't it? It's about choice. And I think going completely alcohol-free, which I did for ages. Ironically, I gained weight through COVID. And although I wasn't drinking a lot, I gained weight. So everybody said, oh, if you give up alcohol, you'll lose weight and you'll sleep better because my sleep patterns are shocking. And so I thought, well, I'll try it for a month, you know. And actually, it didn't lose any weight. Sleep was as bad as ever. But I noticed that I was more active, I had more clarity in what I was doing, I was better at focusing when I was working my business. Life was just easier without it and it kind of went on. But like you, after about a year, 18 months, probably two years, I thought well actually I can have a glass of champagne on special occasions or a glass of red wine if I really fancy or a rose in the garden in the summer with people but it is like it's very rare now but when I do it's because it's part of the experience that I'm having rather than I want to drink it's because you know it'd be lovely to share this champagne with friends or this rope whatever and you know a beer when I'm watching the basketball so I think it's interesting, isn't it? Is that the going alcohol-free often brings you back round to it, but in a much more, um, because I want to rather than anything else, it's a choice rather than kind of being, being negative about it. Oh, I mustn't drink or I shouldn't drink or I'm, I'm sober. Like you say, it's well, actually when I do fancy a drink, I'll have one. End of story. So how did you find it had an impact on the sort of activity you were doing?

Danny Clarke (18:09.288)

So a lot of people talk about not drinking alcohol because it helps with health benefits, sleep, things like you mentioned. That was a non-thing for me. I was a fit guy, did lots of exercise, still do, did before, did after, I've all slept really well. So there was no real health reasons to do so. I mean, I'm 36 right now. So when I was doing this, which was kind of around my 30s, young and fit, right, you know, 29, 30, when I was making these sort of decisions anyway. So it wasn't something, for me, it was all mental. Like that's totally what it was. You know, even just a simple thing, like at the end of the week, going, I've worked really hard this week, I'm going to have a beer. I didn't even know what I could have or do instead of that.

You know, there wasn't something else, you know, uh, I tried a cup of tea. Well, that's crap. I'd have a cup of tea, you know, every day I tried, do I have a this? So even just finding things to replace what would normally be a situation for alcohol, um, and not in the fact that it's not a barbecue and a cold beer tastes really good when you're having a barbecue. It's, it's the end of the week. Like, what do you do? It would, it perplexed me for quite a while. Like, what do I do here? And so it, for me, it became, more just creating new ways to live and processes and just little acknowledgements and milestones and it was that stuff that you know would come up for me as like a weird thing. You know going to the pub and not having a beer, look there's some social pressure sometimes but you know even that I found most people were pretty acceptable.  Going to an event especially, I still to this day say I don't drink because the pressure of having to drink in everyone else's drink at an event like a work conference, I do not want to get involved with that sort of stuff you know. So it's very useful to actually use as an excuse and that it's more acceptable like people don't really put the pressure on but I would say it was more the day-to-day stuff of what do you do instead of where it felt weird for me and it took some, I don't know, just getting used to and just finding new things, you know, to swap and trade those ways, I suppose.

Sarah (20:46.018)

So I know a lot of people find that they get more out of their exercise, their activity when they're not drinking. And in actual fact, a lot of people don't realise that alcohol does have a kind of a significant impact on how we exercise. If you've had a lot of people say, oh, I'm going to go and work out to get rid of my hangover. And actually, that's one of the worst things you can do because it can cause arrhythmias in your heart if you exercise too soon after a heavy session. But particularly, I think a lot of people don't realise it has an impact on our muscles in that muscle repair, and muscle growth doesn't happen as easily. But also the release of energy doesn't happen as much when you've been drinking. And lactic acid, which is, as anyone that exercises will know, your lactic acid builds up when you exercise, doesn't get removed as quickly, injury time can take longer, muscle soreness can be worse and take longer, so quite often people notice that actually not just their workouts are better, but their recovery is better. And I think it's something a lot of people I've spoken to have said, I just had no idea, because it wasn't significant, but actually, once I stopped drinking, not only could I do more in the gym, but my recovery was much quicker and much better. And I think this is something that a lot of people aren't aware of when it comes to sort of how alcohol impacts on how we exercise and things like that. But it isn't just about activities. It's about, I mean, I said about me being, I'm just so much more clarity when I don't drink. Even if I've had a bad night's sleep, I've still got that focus. I've got that energy. I can concentrate on what I'm doing. And I think it, but like you say, there's that kind of what do I do instead? And I do think if anyone is thinking of doing dry January or anything like that, or longer, it's, you know, think about that in advance. Don't wait for it to happen and think, oh, what do I do now? What can I do, what can you do? Can you go for a walk? Can you take time to play a game with the kids? But have something that you can put in its place because that's often where people get back into that, is because they've created a gap.

And it's that gap, isn't it? Like you said, it's often the trigger for drinking. It's not because you necessarily want to drink. It's because you kind of haven't done something to distract you from that and change that pattern.

Danny Clarke (23:23.774)

Yeah, I think there's that side. But I also think, I mean, we're coming up to, you know, more than this comes out, you know, Christmas would have just happened for people, where alcohol is a way for somebody to become the person they think they should be. And, you know, you might have a couple of beers because it makes you happier. You might have a glass of wine because it makes you funnier and more relaxed. And there are two ways to consider that.

Number one is, if you think you should be something different, well what could you do that doesn't use alcohol to allow you to be that different person?

I would actually probably be more inclined to think actually there's a lack of acceptance of who you are as a person and actually if you are a bit quieter at parties that's totally okay to be that way and so actually it's more of an acceptance of the happiness of who you are as a person. I mean I certainly used to when I was younger I'd drink alcohol because it would make me more extroverted, more fun and you know I certainly went through a period where I didn't drink where...

I mean I remember, I won't say who it was but, someone kind of close to me who made a thing out of me not drinking and they said words to the effects of I remember when used to be more of a augh and that really stung as someone who's going through this thing with alcohol and think any way of myself and that really hurt, did it in front of everyone, did it in front of all friends and family, it's like ouch, like oh like that's, I've still not recorded my relationship with that. So, you know, people, I don't really talk about it, but it's done that. But it takes a period of time to get through to it. But having gone through it, and look, please, no way think this is me preaching, but you know, just my experience myself was, a lot of it came down to in the end, was acceptance of who I am warts and all, what makes me the person I am, and just embracing that. And it really removed for me a lot of the social pressure of having to take alcohol. So, you know, I remember going to like family parties or something I need a beer to be able to talk to this lot. Now I just don't really talk to that lot. And it's fine, you know, and it's one of those where you sometimes put this unnecessary pressure on yourself to be something which you can't sustain and that's just not a fun way to live your life anyway. So you know accept who you are. If there's something that you think you need to change with your personality or your behaviors that can be better that alcohol helps you to do will find an alternative. That's not alcohol. And the only reason that you'd find an alternative is when you remove alcohol, which is something that will lower inhibitions, which is where mistakes can happen, which, you know, if we're frank about it, is a poison. You know, it does poison your body. If you can find a natural or an alternative to that, that just means that the consequences and the negatives that would come from that won't ever disappear, but they'll be lessened. And I just take the viewpoint of in life, the journey is, can we become the healthiest, happiest, kindest version of ourselves over time and pass and share forward our knowledge and wisdom that we collect. Like if it's that kind of mindset that you have towards yourself, that you know ever-evolving growth, then stuff which has less consequence and negativity by consuming it, whether that be unhealthy foods, whether that's too much chocolate, too much sugar, too much you know all those things that we're starting to learn, it just it gives you the opportunity to become the best version of yourself. It's not guaranteed that you could instantly become the best version, because you've got to do the hard work still, but it just, it gives you a better opportunity, I believe.

Sarah (27:21.314)

And that's it, isn't it? And it's for people who sort of say, oh, you know, if I have a couple of drinks and I'm more relaxed and, and I, I feel more comfortable. The problem is yes, I mean, and alcohol lowers your inhibitions, which it doesn't mean that you change. It just means that side of you that normally you might be a bit reluctant to show comes out. But the problem is that might happen after one or two drinks. But it's when you get into three and four, actually you go a bit too far. And then of course you've got that remorse the next day. And being alcohol-free I found means, you know, I'm very much an introvert. I find social settings can be quite daunting for me. And being alcohol-free means I don't stay and then get, drink too much and get really embarrassed. But it means I have control over when I leave. So, and I'll often say to myself, I will go and I will stay for an hour then I will leave and I've if I was drinking I would just stay and I would drink too much and just go horribly wrong and for me it's that kind of it gives me more control over a kind of my social engagement, if you like, and I actually feel more comfortable because of it. But it's like you say, most of us, it's all in us, the things that we are, the things that we like, we don't like about ourselves are within us. And alcohol can kind of blur the lines a little bit sometimes, can't it? But for me as well, I'm more active when I'm not drinking. I do more because I've got this energy and I feel it and I don't go out running, I'm not a runner, but I will walk, I will go to do some strength exercises and things and I just feel more, I'm not too tired. I'm not too, oh, I'm aching a bit. Oh, I just got a headache, and it just feels awful. I'm just active more in my everyday life as a result of not drinking and that.

I said after the first month, I hadn't lost an ounce of weight, I hadn't lost, I hadn't had any better sleep, my sleep's still bad, but three, four years later, actually I have lost weight and I do not think about my weight anymore because it's remained very still and it isn't just the alcohol because alcohol is very, very calorific, but also you can't burn off calories as easily when you drink a lot because your body's too busy trying to get rid of the alcohol. And of course, we get the post-alcohol cravings. So I think it's the combination of everything helped me to maintain my weight without thinking about it. And for me, unlike most people, I want an easy life. And actually, it makes my life easier, which is a good thing for me. So yeah, it's It's interesting, isn't it though, because everybody has different reasons. But quite often we start going alcohol-free because of health. But you find other things that you think, actually, I've gained this, I've gained this. Well, what do you say is your biggest gain from being? I mean, now low, very low alcohol, but going alcohol-free in the first place.

Danny Clarke (30:28.132)

Um, I would say the, the biggest gain for me is acceptance. It's, it's a contribution towards the acceptance of myself and, um, someone who, for a long, long time, uh, struggled with, uh, being happy and, and getting happiness, you know, I, you know, I can't, I could do things that would make me happy, but to be happy, like it was a struggle for me to now be someone who's very comfortable in his skin and happy and accepting of himself and not drinking alcohol and basically having no alcohol now is very much an important part of that journey for me and I put it this way to anyone who's like listening to this thinking like you know should I shouldn't I - it's so easy especially this time of year to go or what I would say is this, I have never met a single person that gave up alcohol that regrets it. I have met plenty of people who never stopped drinking alcohol who do regret it. And I think, you know, there's knowledge and data and you know, there's something to it. And it doesn't mean you have to give it up forever. It doesn't mean that you can't have a drink every now and then, but if you can find a way to reduce, if you can find a way to actually fill in those gaps that you have in your life that alcohol fills, then I would say there's a very high chance that you will be a happier, better person for it on the outcome of that.

Sarah (32:24.074)

And it's so true, isn't it? And I do think, you know, like you were saying, that you weren't necessarily drinking a lot, but it was the binge every now and then. I think a lot of people aren't aware of how much, they might sort of, it's a couple of beers, it's a couple of pints, it's a couple of glasses of wine, they're not really aware of how much they're drinking. Alcohol has got much stronger over the years and I think it always makes me laugh, I do talk about this in some of my courses, is the amount of alcohol that all the surveys that are done, the amount that people say they drink equates to about 40 per cent alcohol sales in this country. So either somebody is stockpiling or people are kidding themselves and you know this is one thing for me and a lot of people I've spoken to have said it wasn't until they did Dry January or Sober October, one of those, it wasn't until they did that they actually realised how much they were drinking and it wasn't necessarily because of anything they were feeling they noticed it in their grocery bills, their bank statements in actual fact and that was a shocker for some people, it wasn't necessarily the impact it was having on their health, it was just how much money they seemed to have when they were not drinking as well because it's not a cheap habit is it or a cheap thing to do these days.

Danny Clarke (33:24.911)

No, no, it's not a cheap habit. And the funny thing is, you know, I'll have like a Bailey's at Christmas, I might have like a glass of red wine on my birthday. I tell you, when you do have it and it's so rare, boy, it tastes good. Like it tastes wonderful and it's enjoyable and it becomes, I think you use the word experience. It is like an experience, you know, you're having a really beautiful meal with your party, significant, whatever you go you know, rather than just drinking it, because well, that's what I'm supposed to do. Yeah, whatever, you're not even thinking about it. It becomes something more, and it becomes a nice thing to do, you know. So, it's, well, I prefer it. It works for me, so.

Sarah (34:23.146)

And that's it. And I think this is going to be so helpful for people who do want to. And I think, you know, like we said, there is an overall impact on your health. There's an impact on activity patterns. There's an impact on your business and everything because you're just much more present. And it's hard to explain, isn't it, if you're not really... If you haven't been there for a while, and it doesn't happen overnight. You don't wake up one morning and go, gosh, you know, this is making such a difference. It's more of a gradual creep that you suddenly, one day you think, actually, I haven't felt like that for a while. And it's not, gosh, I feel better today. It's, I've been feeling better for a while. And it's that sudden realization that actually, I can have a drink every when I fancy it. I'll make sure it's a good one. But I don't, I choose the rest of the time not to.

So what would be your number one piece of advice to somebody who is doing dry January or thinking of going alcohol less, if not alcohol free? What would be your one major piece of advice?

Danny Clarke (35:26.116)

So anything where it's an enforced reason to not drink alcohol is never going to be a long term solution.  And so I would say to that person, if there's a reason for you to, if you're curious enough to want to not drink alcohol for a significant period of time, I would also ask yourself the question of why that is. And I would just try to bring awareness to your feeling that you're trying to chase or the feeling that you're trying to hide away from. Like, what is that feeling? Because there tends to be clues in that feeling, and actually just try to build a little bit of resistance, a little bit of something inside of you that starts to solve that problem that you feel that alcohol, whilst alcohol isn't there. So, you know, dry January, I don't know, this is just hypothetical. Let's say that you drink five glasses of wine a week. Well, during dry January, those four weeks, if you're able to bring a little bit of happiness to your life in certain areas, if you're able to change some habits, and on the end of dry January, you're only on two glasses a week, well, that's an absolute win.

And I think it's very easy sometimes, I mean the mindset is you either do one or the other. I'm either drinking or not drinking. And it depends, right? Some people, if you want to drink, that's fine, but you know, maybe drink less. If you drink a little bit, next time you do dry down, you know, I tell you what, it's a lot easier to drop from 2 to 0 than it is from 5 to 0. So you can just, you know, do it bit by bit by bit. But if you are determined to just cut alcohol out of your life, just be prepared that it's going to bring up a lot of questions for you that you would usually mask with alcohol and you don't notice it in week one because everyone can miss a weekend, you notice it by weekend two, because everybody has had a drink at some point in a two week period, because there's just been two weekends there. Most people drink at the weekend. If you're drinking during the week, you've definitely had that opportunity. And that's where it starts to come in. If you can get through week two, week three is a bastard, because that one, you will really start asking questions to yourself. And if you can get through that one, look, you haven't broken the back of it. It's not forgotten about. You'll still have to fight your demons and sort of work through

But if you can get through that third, fourth, fifth week, especially start going through that fifth week, take dry January through to the first week of Feb, to keep adding on milestones, all you're doing is you're giving yourself another opportunity to win. That sounds a bit cliche to say, but another opportunity to go, I didn't need it and instead I did this. And just treat it as that week by week by week by week. And it's amazing how you look back three, six months later and you think, wow.

Like, you know, I got to Mother's Day and then I got to my birthday and then I got to here and then, oh my God, it's Christmas and I've gone the whole year without having a drink. It gets, when you're about three months into not drinking alcohol, it becomes a thing in itself where then you're, you're proud to not drink. So it kind of, it goes, it goes from it being, oh, it's a week without alcohol.

You know, and it feels like it's, oh, at some point I'll go back into it. It becomes, there was three months. Imagine how I feel at six months. Like it changes from like being a negative to a positive and you, and you really hold onto it. So there'd be the main things. Try and use it as a way to fill some of those holes that we all carry. And two, if there's a way that you can start seeing further into the future as a little milestone to continue it. Um, I'm certain that you'll feel better for doing so.

Sarah (39:06.336)

Brilliant. Thank you so much for chatting and particularly about this because I think it's something that a lot of people think they can just stop and that's going to be fine. But actually, like you say, it will bring up things. So be prepared and also find something to do at the time you would normally start to drink, have a drink, you know, find something out, do something else. Because even if that just distracts you quite often that kind of association goes. So we talked originally about easy peasy business and about making business a lot more simple, I love the name of it, Easy Peasy Business. Where can people find you if they want to know more about what you do for businesses?

Danny Clarke (39:57.186)

Yeah, sure. So if you want to head over to easypzbusiness.com, then you can find out about everything that we do, including digital software, accelerated training programs. We have done for your business models. We have a whole heap of different things. Like I said, at the very beginning, the whole point of what we do is to help business owners have a easier way to be able to build their business. And, you know, most people that we work with tend to be one man band, two, three people working for them. There's a lot. We have to wear about 20, 25 different hats. You know, we have to be the marketer, the accountant, we have to be the salesperson, the tech, all those things. And so we want to help assist as many of those as possible to make your life easier so you can achieve more.

Sarah (40:42.898)

I was going to say if you're wearing all those hats, it means us entrepreneurs only have to wear one. Which is a big thing. Danny, thank you so much for coming. I'll make sure all your links are in the episode when it goes out. And thank you again for coming along. You've been listening to me, Sarah Bolitho and my guest, Danny Clarke from Easy Peasy Business talking about going alcohol free. We will see you all very soon and thank you for listening.